Inclusion for a Neurodiverse World

This week's newsletter is powered by my incredible friends at?Zinc.Work

I was lucky enough to share their journey as VP of Customer Acquisition and I now see them flying high as the first round of investment helps them scale.

If you need a digitised and automated background and referencing service directly from your ATS (Applicant Tracking System), I know of not a better team to partner with. Their values and purpose are aligned to mine, and I hope that is enough said to inspire you to connect with them.

#TogetherStronger

I couldn't start this week's newsletter without highlighting the obvious. The world is on a knifes edge and with it comes some serious moments of reflection; what could we have done better to have been more inclusive of those we do not understand?

Fundamentally I believe we are at our strongest when we combine all our efforts, this surely must include even those we may struggle to understand.

Divisive-Division!

The Path to Inclusion

This week we are lucky enough to have Dr. Tiffany Jameson as a guest writer giving us her personal insight into what energised her to create one of her most recent articles on Neurodiversity & Disability Inclusion.

This is what she had to say:

"The last four years of focused research on the cause of the low employment rate for neurodivergent has lead me to the main messages in this article. Basically, the challenge begins with pure FEAR of hiring by companies. They are afraid to get it wrong. Afraid of what they don’t know. Then there is the challenge for the individual – Neurodiversity is concealable leading to the choice of disclosure. Fear from the employer leads to bad and inexcusable reactions by the employer often when someone does disclose. When does this cycle end???

Well, we have to come up with a plan at grit & flow. Companies have to report on disability statistics. They have to create workplaces that neurodivergent and disabled workers will disclose.

So, here comes my sneaky little plan. Change your culture companies. Be neuro-inclusive. It’s a win-win.

Great employees. Statistics to report on. And… everything you do to be neuro-inclusive benefits all employees."

And you can read the full article here:

And we can't talk about Neurodiversity and Inclusion without understanding the reality that we live in an unfair and unjust world on multiple levels.

And with International Womens Day this week, here is a timely article from Rachel Worsley who shares her thoughts on 'Autistic Women Facing Sexist Expectations at Work'. My mind goes straight to loved ones like my daughter when I consider the additional barriers, stigma and as Rachel says Sexist expectations at work. This must change!

Great to see Nesceda Blake an individual positively challenging recruitment processes and the way an organisation presents itself versus its actions.

Great to see the work of one positively changing processes for the many. I believe often organisations don't see or understand the barriers they put in place or as I like to call it the Kryptonite they leave lying around!

So no better way to follow on from this post is to highlight one of Amanda Kirby's recent newsletter on Neurodiversity and Recruitment.

Some quality tips relating to?#neurodiversity?hiring and also a fantastic treasure trove of information and support from Amanda's Newsletter. Sign up if you've not already ;O)

And to finish the content off for this week, with all the going on in the world Nancy Doyle shares with us her views on what the Neurodiversity Movement Can Teach Us All About Division.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday 15th and Wednesday the 16th March there is the Health and Wellbeing at Work Conference in Birmingham NEC

Register here: https://healthwellbeingwork.co.uk/

As you can see they are covering Neurodiversity At Work with its own segment and some incredible speakers including Dr Nancy Doyle, Neil Smith, Aidan Healy, Dr Edward Palmer, Nicola Whiting MBE and Ruth-Ellen Danquah

Do-It are running a Lunch & Learn - Introduction to developing Neuro-inclusive workplaces in 2022

This is bound to be a valuable 45 min of your time, I can highly recommend attending.

Let me know in the comments if there are any recent events you have loved or will be attending soon. Or if you've read a great article that you'd like to share with others.

Hope you enjoyed this weeks newsletter and it sparked some ideas and conversations.

Please feel free to comment and make some suggestions of what you'd like to see in the upcoming editions of ND@Work the newsletter, or send me a direct Linkedin message to let me know or flag a great piece of content.

Or if you'd like to be involved and be our voice of the week, then reach out to me directly here on Linkedin.

Theo Smith

Neurodiversity Evangelist at?Dynamis Group,

Neurodiversity advocate, founder of?Neurodiversity at Work Ltd, author of?‘Neurodiversity at Work: Drive Innovation, Performance and Productivity with a Neurodiverse Workforce’??and podcast host of?Neurodiversity – Eliminating Kryptonite & Enabling Superheroes!